Sep 17

Game 51, 2020

Dodgers at Rockies, 5:40 PM PDT, TV: ATTSportsNet-RM, SPNLA

The Dodgers send LHP Julio Urias (3-0, 3.53 ERA) to the Coors Field mound to face the Rockies’ LHP Kyle Freeland (2-1, 3.54 ERA). Urias gave up one run in six innings against the Astros last Saturday. This will be Freeland’s second start this year against the Dodgers; on August 22 he gave up three runs on four hits in six-plus innings.

Dustin May went 5 1/3 innings after Graterol and Kolarek went the first two innings and struck out six in the process.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1912 Casey Stengel of the Dodgers makes an impressive major league debut against the Pirates. The likable Brooklyn outfielder from Kansas City collects four hits, drives in two runs, and swipes a pair of bases.
  • 1963 Dodger ace Sandy Koufax tosses a four-hitter, blanking St. Louis at Sportsman’s Park, 4-0. The southpaw’s scoreless effort establishes a National League record for shutouts thrown by lefties in a season with 11, five shy of Grover Cleveland Alexander’s major league mark set in 1916 with the Phillies.
  • 1981 Dodgers southpaw Fernando Valenzuela ties White Sox freshman Ewell Russell’s 1913 rookie record when he hurls his eighth shutout of the season, blanking Atlanta on three hits. The 20 year-old Mexican’s 2-0 victory breaks the previous National League mark shared by Irving Young (Braves, 1905), Grover Cleveland Alexander (Phillies, 1911), and Jerry Koosman (Mets, 1968).
  • 1996 Dodger right-hander Hideo Nomo no-hits the Rockies, 9-0, at Coor Field, becoming the only big league hurler to accomplish the feat in the thin air of Denver. Tornado Boy’s performance in Colorado is the best-attended no-no and is the only hitless game with a paid attendance of more than 50,000 fans.

  • 2010 Joe Torre, who will compile a 2326-1997 (.538) managerial record during his 30 seasons as a skipper with the Mets, Braves, Cardinals, Yankees, and Dodgers, announces he will be retiring at the end of the month. Los Angeles immediately hires the team’s hitting coach Don Mattingly to replace the 70 year-old.
  • 2014 Jacob DeGrom strikes out the first eight batters he faces in the Mets’ 6-5 loss in Miami, tying the modern-day major league mark to start a game. The Amazins’ rookie right-hander now shares the record with Jim Deshaies, who struck out the first eight Dodgers he faced with the Astros in a 1986 contest.

A whole lot of interesting things happened on this date in baseball history; take a look.

Lineup:

Sep 17

Game 152, 2019

Rays at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: YouTube

The Rays send out LHP Blake Snell (6-7, 4.28 ERA) to make his first start since undergoing arthroscopic surgery to remove “loose bodies” from his left elbow on July 25. The Rays probably won’t let him go more than two or three innings. He’ll face the Dodgers’ RHP Ross Stripling (4-4, 3.40 ERA), who’s made 14 starts and 15 relief appearances this year. He last started six days ago against the Orioles; he went three innings, giving up three hits and one run.

Here’s Gyorko’s go-ahead single in the 9th inning on Sunday:

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1912 Casey Stengel of the Dodgers makes an impressive major league debut against the Pirates. The likable Brooklyn outfielder from Kansas City collects four hits, drives in two runs, and swipes a pair of bases.
  • 1963 Dodger ace Sandy Koufax tosses a four-hitter, blanking St. Louis at Sportsman’s Park, 4-0. The southpaw’s scoreless effort establishes a National League record for shutouts thrown by lefties in a season with 11, five shy of Grover Cleveland Alexander’s major league mark set in 1916 with the Phillies.
  • 1981 Dodgers southpaw Fernando Valenzuela ties White Sox freshman Ewell Russell’s 1913 rookie record when he hurls his eighth shutout of the season, blanking Atlanta on three hits. The 20 year-old Mexican’s 2-0 victory breaks the previous National League mark shared by Irving Young (Braves, 1905), Grover Cleveland Alexander (Phillies, 1911), and Jerry Koosman (Mets, 1968).
  • 1996 Dodger right-hander Hideo Nomo no-hits the Rockies, 9-0, at Coor Field, becoming the only big league hurler to accomplish the feat in the thin air of Denver. Tornado Boy’s performance in Colorado is the best-attended no-no and is the only hitless game with a paid attendance of more than 50,000 fans.

  • 2010 Joe Torre, who will compile a 2326-1997 (.538) managerial record during his 30 seasons as a skipper with the Mets, Braves, Cardinals, Yankees, and Dodgers, announces he will be retiring at the end of the month. Los Angeles immediately hires the team’s hitting coach Don Mattingly to replace the 70 year-old.
  • 2014 Jacob DeGrom strikes out the first eight batters he faces in the Mets’ 6-5 loss in Miami, tying the modern-day major league mark to start a game. The Amazins’ rookie right-hander now shares the record with Jim Deshaies, who struck out the first eight Dodgers he faced with the Astros in a 1986 contest.

A whole lot of interesting things happened on this date in baseball history; take a look.

Lineup when available.

Sep 14

Game 150, 2019

Dodgers at Mets, 4:10 PM PDT, TV: MLBN (out-of-market only), SPNLA, WPIX

The Dodgers send out LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu (12-5, 2.45 ERA), hoping that skipping a turn will help him get back on the Cy Young track he’d been on until his last four starts. In those starts he’s put up an unsightly 9.95 ERA while giving up 36 hits, five HRs, and seven walks in 19 innings. His opponent will be RHP Jacob deGrom (9-8, 2.70 ERA), last year’s Cy Young winner, whose won-loss record belies the way he’s pitched this season.

Here’s Gavin Lux’s go-ahead HR off the original outfield wall in Friday’s game:

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1951 Preacher Roe wins his 20th game of the season when the Dodgers beat the Pirates at Forbes Field, 3-1. The 36 year-old southpaw will finish the season with a 22-3 record.
  • 2002 Chin-Feng Chen becomes the first Taiwan-born player to appear in the major leagues as he walks and scores as a pinch-hitter for the Dodgers against the Rockies. The 24 year-old first baseman-outfielder played for the 1990 Taiwan team which won the Little League World Series.
  • 2008 Mets shortstop Jose Reyes, with his eighth-inning thievery in a 7-4 loss to the Braves at Shea Stadium, becomes the first player to have four straight seasons of 50 or more stolen bases playing for a New York area team, which also includes Yankees, Dodgers, and Giants. The accomplishment extends the infielder’s own record, as he is also the only Gotham major leaguer to achieve the feat for three consecutive years.

Also, in 1990 Mariner Ken Griffey and his son, Junior, become the first father and son to hit homers in the same major league game. The back-to-back blasts are given up by Angel hurler Kirk McCaskill.

Lineup:

Jul 24

Game 104, 2019

Angels at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: FS-W, SPNLA

RHP Jaime Barria (3-3, 7.36 ERA) tries to maintain his position in the Angels’ rotation after a dreadful game his last time out. He gave up ten runs on nine hits in 3 2/3 innings against the Mariners last Friday. He’ll face the Dodgers’ RHP Ross Stripling (4-3, 3.64 ERA), who had a good five-inning stint against the Phillies last week but hasn’t really reached the success he was pitching with in April, his first period of injury replacement starts.

Here’s video of the damage Calhoun did to the Dodgers last night, including the last out of the game:

If the Reds trade Puig, where might he fit?

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1909 At Washington Park, the Superbas sweep a twin bill from the visiting Cardinals with identical 1-0 scores. Brooklyn’s southpaw Nap Rucker, who will finish second in the NL with 200 strikeouts, whiffs 16 Redbirds in one of the contests.
  • 1931 For the second time in ten days, Babe Herman hits for the cycle. The Dodger outfielder joins “Long John” Reilly and Bob Meusel as one of only three ‘tricyclists’ to have accomplished the feat of collecting a single, double, triple, and home run in one game three times.
  • 1965 Unbeknownst to him at the time, 75 year-old Mets skipper Casey Stengel, who compiled a managerial record of 1,905-1,842 with the Dodgers, Braves, Yankees, and Mets, manages his final baseball game, a 5-1 loss to Philadelphia at Shea Stadium. After leaving a party after midnight at Toots Shor’s, the ‘Old Perfesser’ loses his balance and fractures his left hip, resulting in the unexpected retirement with the team.
  • 1968 ChiSox reliever Hoyt Wilhelm breaks Cy Young’s record when he makes his 907th career appearance, pitching a third of an inning in which he gives up a run on two hits to be on the short side of the team’s 3-2 loss to Oakland. The 45 year-old knuckleballer, who will retire in 1972 after pitching in 1,070 games, will finish his 21-year major league career with a 143-122 (.540) won-loss record and 228 saves, hurling for the Giants, Cardinals, Indians, Orioles, White Sox, Angels, Braves, Cubs, and Dodgers.
  • 1970 Tommy Agee steals home with two outs in the bottom of the tenth inning, giving the Mets a 2-1 walk-off victory over the Dodgers at Shea Stadium. After reaching on a fielder’s choice, the New York center fielder stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch, before scoring the winning run with his thievery of home plate.
  • 1977 After his two-out foul pop-up is dropped by Mets’ right fielder Bruce Boisclair, Davey Lopes responds with a game-ending three-run home run off Bob Apodaca. The L.A. second baseman’s ninth-inning dramatics provide the Dodgers with a 5-3 win and spoil the opportunity for a win for Nino Espinosa, who left the game needing just one more out for a complete-game victory.
  • 1993 Following the game at Dodger Stadium, Vince Coleman tosses an M-80 from a car, resulting in reported injuries to three fans in the Chavez Ravine parking lot, including an 11 year-old boy and a two year-old girl. The Mets’ player was a passenger in the 1991 Jeep Cherokee driven by LA outfielder Eric Davis, who acknowledges Coleman flipped the firecracker out of his vehicle as a ‘joke,’ but not into a crowd of people.
  • 1993 In a 5-4 loss to the Dodgers at Chavez Ravine, Mets right-hander Anthony Young extends his record losing streak to 27 games. The latest defeat is the result of the hard-luck hurler walking Dave Hansen in with the winning run with two outs in the 10th inning.
  • 2015 Michael Conforto becomes the 1,000th player in Mets history when he makes his major league debut, going 0-3 in the team’s 7-2 loss to the Dodgers at Citi Field. Tomorrow, the 24 year-old rookie left fielder will enjoy a 4-for-4 day at the plate when he will collect three singles and a double en route scoring four runs.

Lineup:

Sep 03

Game 138, 2018

Mets at Dodgers, 5:10 PM PDT, TV: SPNLA, SNY, MLBN (out-of-market only)

The Mets send Jacob DeGrom (8-8, 1.68 ERA) to the hill to face the Dodgers’ Alex Wood (8-6, 3.42 ERA). DeGrom is or should be the front runner for the Cy Young Award if W-L records are left out of the decision. He’s gone 24 straight starts allowing three runs or fewer and made 19 consecutive quality starts. His ERA+ is a whopping 218 and his WAR is 7.8. However, the Dodgers beat him 8-3 on June 23 in a game marked by Clayton Kershaw’s second return from the DL, a pinch-hit grand slam by Matt Kemp, and Caleb Ferguson’s first big league win. Wood went seven scoreless innings and gave up just four hits in his last start against the Rangers.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1917 Grover Cleveland Alexander goes the distance in both games of the Phillies’ doubleheader sweep of Brooklyn at Ebbets Field. In his 18 innings of work, the Philadelphia right-hander limits the Dodgers to seven hits en route to posting 5-0 and 9-3 victories in the twin bill.
  • 1978 At Dodger Stadium, Lee Mazzilli becomes the first Mets player to hit a home run from both sides of the plate in a game. The center fielder’s first and seventh inning blasts, respectively hit off southpaw Tommy John and right-hander Charlie Hough, pace the last-place club to an 8-5 victory.

Lineup:


Jul 24

Game 101, 2018

Dodgers at Phillies, 4:05 PM PDT, TV: SPNLA, NBCSP, MLBN (out-of-network only)

The Dodgers put RHP Kenta Maeda (7-5, 3.12 ERA) on the mound in Philadelphia to face the Fightin’ Phils’ RHP Aaron Nola (12-3, 2.30 ERA). Maeda has been the Dodgers’ most consistent pitcher all season, and he hasn’t given up more than three runs in a start since May 11. He got a win in relief in his last appearance on July 15, one in which he worked 1/3 of an inning, striking out the Angels’ Ian Kinsler with the bases loaded to get Kershaw off the hook. The Phillies’ Nola is 5-1 with a 2.22 ERA since June 1 and pitched a scoreless inning in the All Star Game. This is the best start of his short career.

In an obvious lineup move, Machado will play third base while Turner is on the disabled list.

Internet-sourced trade proposal: The Mets’ deGrom for the Dodgers’ prospects Verdugo (#2), Ruiz (#7) and Alvarez (#9). MLB’s Jim Duquette poo-poos that but suggests an alternative: “a deal involving Ruiz, right-hander Dustin May (the Dodgers’ No. 9 prospect) and middle infielder Gavin Lux (the Dodgers’ No. 11 prospect) could bring both sides together.”

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1909 At Washington Park, the Superbas sweep a twin bill from the visiting Cardinals with identical 1-0 scores. Brooklyn’s southpaw Nap Rucker, who will finish second in the NL with 200 strikeouts, whiffs 16 Redbirds in one of the contests.
  • 1931 For the second time in ten days, Babe Herman hits for the cycle. The Dodger outfielder joins “Long John” Reilly and Bob Meusel as one of only three ‘tricyclists’ to have accomplished the feat of collecting a single, double, triple, and home run in one game three times.
  • 1965 Unbeknownst to him at the time, 75 year-old Mets skipper Casey Stengel, who compiled a managerial record of 1,905-1,842 with the Dodgers, Braves, Yankees, and Mets, manages his final baseball game, a 5-1 loss to Philadelphia at Shea Stadium. After leaving a party after midnight at Toots Shor’s, the ‘Old Perfesser’ loses his balance and fractures his left hip, resulting in the unexpected retirement with the team.
  • 1968 ChiSox reliever Hoyt Wilhelm breaks Cy Young’s record when he makes his 907th career appearance, pitching a third of an inning in which he gives up a run on two hits to be on the short side of the team’s 3-2 loss to Oakland. The 45 year-old knuckleballer, who will retire in 1972 after pitching in 1,070 games, will finish his 21-year major league career with a 143-122 (.540) won-loss record and 228 saves, hurling for the Giants, Cardinals, Indians, Orioles, White Sox, Angels, Braves, Cubs, and Dodgers.
  • 1970 Tommy Agee steals home with two outs in the bottom of the tenth inning, giving the Mets a 2-1 walk-off victory over the Dodgers at Shea Stadium. After reaching on a fielder’s choice, the New York center fielder stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch, before scoring the winning run with his thievery of home plate.
  • 1977 After his two-out foul pop-up is dropped by Mets’ right fielder Bruce Boisclair, Davey Lopes responds with a game-ending three-run home run off Bob Apodaca. The L.A. second baseman’s ninth-inning dramatics provide the Dodgers with a 5-3 win and spoil the opportunity for a win for Nino Espinosa, who left the game needing just one more out for a complete-game victory.
  • 1993 Following the game at Dodger Stadium, Vince Coleman tosses an M-80 from a car, resulting in reported injuries to three fans in the Chavez Ravine parking lot, including an 11 year-old boy and a two year-old girl. The Mets’ player was a passenger in the 1991 Jeep Cherokee driven by LA outfielder Eric Davis, who acknowledges Coleman flipped the firecracker out of his vehicle as a ‘joke,’ but not into a crowd of people.
  • 1993 In a 5-4 loss to the Dodgers at Chavez Ravine, Mets right-hander Anthony Young extends his record losing streak to 27 games. The latest defeat is the result of the hard-luck hurler walking Dave Hansen in with the winning run with two outs in the 10th inning.
  • 2015 Michael Conforto becomes the 1,000th player in Mets history when he makes his major league debut, going 0-3 in the team’s 7-2 loss to the Dodgers at Citi Field. Tomorrow, the 24 year-old rookie left fielder will enjoy a 4-for-4 day at the plate when he will collect three singles and a double en route scoring four runs.

Lineup:


Jun 23

Game 75, 2018

Dodgers at Mets, 4:15 PM PDT, TV: Fox

LHP Clayton Kershaw (1-4, 2.76 ERA) makes his first start since going on the disabled list with back pain on June 1. He’d made only two starts in May sandwiched around his first trip to the DL this season with a biceps injury. He draws a nasty assignment: keep pace with the Mets’ ace RHP Jacob DeGrom (5-2, 1.51 ERA). In his last eleven starts DeGrom sports a 0.90 ERA with 90 strikeouts in 70 2/3 innings.

Per the Associated Press: Kershaw “will be limited against the Mets, with 21-year-old rookie LHP Caleb Ferguson (0-1, 7.59 ERA) ready in reserve.”

On this date in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1930 The Dodgers get twelve consecutive hits in a 19-6 win over the Pirates at Forbes Field. Two of the dozen hits in the eight-run sixth inning include a pair of homers hit by Brooklyn outfielder Babe Herman.
  • 1986 The Braves strand 18 runners on base, establishing a National League record. Enough Atlanta players do score to give the team a 6-5 victory over L.A. at Dodger Stadium.

Other notable events in baseball on this date include Ernie Shore’s near-perfect game in 1917, when he relieved Babe Ruth (ejected for arguing balls and strikes and possibly punching the umpire) and retired 26 consecutive batters.

Lineup:


Sep 17

Game 149, 2017

Dodgers at Nationals, 5:00 PM PT, TV: ESPN

The Dodgers send LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu (5-7, 3.59 ERA) to the hill to face the Nats’ RHP Stephen Strasburg (13-4, 2.64 ERA).

The Dodgers held Ryu out of his last scheduled start as they juggle six pitchers in the rotation. He pitched well in his last game, holding Arizona to one run in six innings. Strasburg is on a 34-inning scoreless streak. How has each pitcher done against the opponent?

Strasburg has a 2.82 ERA in six career starts against the Dodgers and a 0.94 WHIP, allowing two earned runs or fewer in five of the starts. Ryu has made only one start against Washington, a loss when he allowed four runs in seven innings at home earlier this season.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1912 Casey Stengel of the Dodgers makes an impressive major league debut against the Pirates. The likable Brooklyn outfielder from Kansas City collects four hits, drives in two runs, and swipes a pair of bases.
  • 1963 Dodger ace Sandy Koufax tosses a four-hitter, blanking St. Louis at Sportsman’s Park, 4-0. The southpaw’s scoreless effort establishes a National League record for shutouts thrown by lefties in a season with 11, five shy of Grover Cleveland Alexander’s major league mark set in 1916 with the Phillies.
  • 1981 Dodgers southpaw Fernando Valenzuela ties White Sox freshman Ewell Russell’s 1913 rookie record when he hurls his eighth shutout of the season, blanking Atlanta on three hits. The 20 year-old Mexican’s 2-0 victory breaks the previous National League mark shared by Irving Young (Braves, 1905), Grover Cleveland Alexander (Phillies, 1911), and Jerry Koosman (Mets, 1968).
  • 1996 Dodger right-hander Hideo Nomo no-hits the Rockies, 9-0, at Coor Field, becoming the only big league hurler to accomplish the feat in the thin air of Denver. Tornado Boy’s performance in Colorado is the best-attended no-no and is the only hitless game with a paid attendance of more than 50,000 fans.

  • 2010 Joe Torre, who will compile a 2326-1997 (.538) managerial record during his 30 seasons as a skipper with the Mets, Braves, Cardinals, Yankees, and Dodgers, announces he will be retiring at the end of the month. Los Angeles immediately hires the team’s hitting coach Don Mattingly to replace the 70 year-old.
  • 2014 Jacob DeGrom strikes out the first eight batters he faces in the Mets’ 6-5 loss in Miami, tying the modern-day major league mark to start a game. The Amazins’ rookie right-hander now shares the record with Jim Deshaies, who struck out the first eight Dodgers he faced with the Astros in a 1986 contest.

A whole lot of interesting things happened on this date in baseball history; take a look.

Lineup:

Aug 04

Game 109, 2017

Dodgers at Mets, 1:00 PM PT, TV: SPNLA, SNY

Joe Posnanski writes for MLB.com:

Assuming everyone stays healthy, the Dodgers’ crazy lineup features eight players with double-digit home runs and includes NL MVP Award candidates Corey Seager and Justin Turner, along with a certain NL Rookie of the Year Award winner in Bellinger. Their bullpen is so good that the Dodgers have gone into the sixth inning with 61 leads … and they have won every single one of those games. And the rotation will feature Kershaw, Alex Wood (who is 13-1 with a 2.33 ERA) and now Darvish. It doesn’t quite seem fair.

Dylan Hernandez writes at the LA Times:

What immediately stands out about Yu Darvish is his size.

He’s huge. Like, really, really huge.

The measurements of 6 feet 5 and 220 pounds don’t adequately describe the physical stature of the Dodgers’ recently acquired flamethrower. His shoulders are massive. His chest is expansive.

Andy McCullough has team reactions as the deal was made and confirmed.

As noted, the Dodgers send out the newly-acquired RHP Yu Darvish, who was 6-9 with a 4.01 ERA for the Rangers this season. He’ll face RHP Jacob deGrom, who’s 12-4 with a 3.29 ERA and one of the few bright spots in the Mets’ otherwise-unhappy season in which they’re eight games under .500 and only Jacob deGrom has made all 21 scheduled starts. Steven Matz, who is 2-4 with a 5.50 ERA in 10 starts, is the only other pitcher on the active roster of the seven candidates for the rotation in spring training.

This date in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1908 In Brooklyn, the last-place Cardinals blank the Brooklyn Superbas (Dodgers), 3-0. The entire Washington Park contest is played with just one ball.
  • 1941 Mickey Owens [sic] becomes the first catcher to handle three foul pop ups in one frame. The Brooklyn backstop’s third inning defense contributes to the Dodgers’ 11-6 victory over New York at Ebbets Field.
  • 1942 In a military relief game at the Polo Grounds, which will be the last war-time twilight game played, Pee Wee Reese’s grand slam in the top of the ninth, which puts the Dodgers up 5-1, doesn’t count because of the 9:10 pm government curfew. The game ends up as a 1-1 tie with the Giants.
  • 1948 Ernie Harwell, filling in for Red Barber, who is recovering from a bleeding ulcer, calls his first major league game as the Dodgers beat the Cubs at Ebbets Field, 5-4. To obtain the future Hall of Fame broadcaster, Brooklyn general manager Branch Rickey trades minor league catcher Cliff Dapper to the Atlanta Crackers.

In non-Dodgers history, on this date in 1985 Tom Seaver won his 300th game and Rod Carew got his 3,000th hit.

Lineup when available.

May 27

Game 49, 2016

Dodgers at Mets, 4:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, MLBN (out-of-market only)

The Dodgers’ 19-year-old rookie Julio Urias makes his first MLB start against the Mets’ Jacob deGrom (3-1, 3.07 ERA), who’s hit a bad patch: he’s 0-1 with a 4.63 ERA over his last four starts.

This will be Chase Utley’s first appearance in NYC since he slid into the Mets’ then-shortstop Ruben Tejada during the playoffs last year, a collision which resulted in a broken leg for the infielder. Tejada has since moved on to the Cardinals, but the Mets fans are still there and are expected to be loud in their displeasure toward the Dodgers’ second-baseman.

For those on the road or away from the West Coast, this will be “an MLB Network Showcase game, [which] can be seen free on MLB.TV and will feature MLB Plus — MLB.com’s data-driven online broadcast that uses Statcast™ and other analytical and broadcast elements to deliver an in-depth discussion about both the action on the field and the big picture.”

Here’s Vinnie reciting the “People Will Come” soliloquy from “Field of Dreams.”

Lineup when available.